Flat opening book



July 17, 1962 R. 1. THIEL 3,

FLAT OPENING BOOK Filed 001:. 8, 1958 INVENTOR ROBE/PT I. TH/EL United States atent 3,044,804 FLAT OPENING BOOK Robert I. Thiel, Epping Forest, Annapolis, Md. Filed Oct. 8, 1958, Ser. No. 766,078 2 Claims. (Cl. 28129) This invention relates to books and more particularly to the art of book binding. Although its utility is of a broader nature it is especially useful in the field of books bound with plastic ring bindings of the type which is now widely used.

Many commercial establishments use a plastic ring binder having a multiplicity of flexible binding elements for engaging a like number of registering apertures along one edge of a stack of sheets. The advantages of this binding reside in its providing a flat opening book, which may consist of a few or a large number of sheets, which is relatively permanent in nature, inexpensive to use and does not require skilled labor so that small establishments may utilize the same. The binding has also been used for the securing together of reports and briefs of a more formal nature.

Certain disadvantages inherent in such binding have limited its use. Among these disadvantages are that the plastic binding member has protruding ring portions which may catch against each other as well as other objects, and its ends are usually pointed and thereby present a hazard to safety.

Another disadvantage is that strain which is conveyed to the binding member as a result of severe handling of the covers tends to open the relatively weak plastic ring.

members and may disrupt the binding and result in displacement or tearing of one or more sheets or the covers therefrom.

A further disadvantage is that in a binding of this nature the diameter of the rings must be substantially greater than the thickness of the sheets bound thereby. The result is that when a number of books are stacked together with the bindings on top of, one another the stack becomes lopsided and the ring members tend to become interengaged.

A further shortcoming is that a book bound with an exposed plastic ring is objectionable in appearance for certain uses.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a hook utilizing "a plastic ring binding member of the type described and which overcomes the disadvantages of which reference has been made.

More particularly it is an object of the present invention to provide a book in which the stack of sheets may be engaged in conventional manner by a conventional multi-ring plastic binder and in which front and back covers are provided which are secured to the plastic ring member so that the latter is covered, from view and from contact, and in which the thickness of the book is uniform so that flat stacking is possible.

A further object is to provide a book of the character described in which'the binding may be applied by unskilled labor and using materials readily available in the market and without the necessity of utilizing unconventional binding members, fixtures, and the like.

These and other advantages of the present invention will be apparent from a consideration of the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective of an open book embodying one form of the present invention;

FIG. 2, a plan view to an enlarged scale and with portions broken away illustrating details of the binding;

FIG. 3, an end elevation of a plurality of books constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4, an enlarged section on the line 4-4 of FIG.- 2

and

FIG. 5, an enlarged fragmentary perspective of a modified form of the invention.

Briefly stated, the present invention includes book covers connected by thin, flexible, sheet material which is attached to the backbone or main portion of a conventional flexible multi-ring binder holding a number of pages.

Books of the type with which the present invention pertains are made up from unconnected pages as distinguished from books formed from sheets, or signatures, consisting of groups of pages. Separate pages maybe bound by being stapled or stitched from the side or by rings such as those with which the present invention is concerned. If a large number of such pages are used it is necessary that the ring binding be employed or the book will not open flat. Such problem is not met in connection with books formed from signatures inasmuch as these may be sewn to a backbone instead of being bound from the side.

Referring to the drawings, there is illustrated a book comprised of a plurality of stacked thin sheets 10 which have a multiplicity of registering apertures 11 along one border and are held assembled by a conventional plastic multi-ring binder 12. The binder may be formed of a co-polyrner ofpolystyrene and polyvinyl, such as the product of the General Binding Corporation, Chicago, Illinois, known under the trademark Cerlox. Each of the registering apertures 11 receives a curved flexible finger 12', of the binder, which extends from a backbone 13 customarily having a curved profile, the free end 14 of each of the fingers being received within the backbone and closely contiguous thereto so as to provide in effect a ring extending from the backbone.

The structure that has been described thus far is conventional and in widespread use, it being understood that the outermost sheets, of the structure so far defined conventionally constitute the front and back covers of the book.

It is apparent that in a book of the type described that the diameter of the rings 12 must substantially exceed the thickness of the stack of sheets in order for the latter to open.

In accordance with the present invention front and rear cover members 15 and '16 are provided which are connected by a sheet member 18 having an exposed adhesive coating 19, intermediate the cover members, of sufiicient area to hold the backbone 13 of the plastic binder. One method of accomplishing this is to use for the tape 18 a relatively wide strip of sheet material such as cloth tape having a polyethylene coating on one side and a conventional pressure sensitive rubber resin adhesive coating on the other. A tape of this nature identified as RS1.

(Pressure Sensitive Industrial) Tape No. 999" is produced by the PSI. Division of the Mutual Paper Company, Inc., of Brooklyn, NY. As indicated in FIG. 4, the borders of the cover members which are adjacent to the binding are engaged by the outer borders of the tape, the edges of such borders being spaced apart sufliciently so that the tape therebetween which connects them is of a Width about equal to that necessary to overlie the exposed portion 13 of the plastic binding member 12 which protrudes or extends from the stack of sheets.

The attachment of the cover members 15 and 16 to the tape 18 may be made more secure, and exposed adhesive area on tape 18 on each side of the backbone covered,

by additional narrower strips of tape 20 placed one on either side of the adhesive area 19 to which the backbone 13 is attached and overlying the borders of the may be slightly longer than the covers in order to fold back upon itself and upon the side strips 20 as indicated in FIG. 2 by the folded over ends 21.

In order to compensate for the diameter of the rings exceeding the thickness of the stack of pages and to provide a flat book, i.e. a book of the same dimension at the binding as that at the outer surfaces of the covers, the covers 15 and 16 are preferably of substantial thickness so that together they compensate for such difference in dimension. Such compensation may be provided as accurately as desired in a given case although covers of a thickness regularly used will, in many instances, produce a substantially fiat book when used in accordance with the present invention. The binding tape is preferably, rela tively thin and therefore does not substantially affect the thickness of the book.

If desired, a more finished appearance may be achieved by the use of separate end or waste sheets 23 as indicated in FIG. 5 which may be pasted to the inner surfaces of covers and extends to cover adhesive exposed at th sides of the binder member. In this form of the invention the side strips 20 may be eliminated.

Books in accordance with the present invention may be easily made by unskilled personnel, including thos accustomed to binding pages in the heretofore conventional manner. Conventional plastic binders may be used and the coated tape may be used from a roll thereof, or the adhesive may be separately applied.

Books produced in accordance with the invention have a finished appearance without exposed ring binding, stack flat, and may be subjected to more severe handling than previous books having flexible ring bindings of the character described.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and therefore the invention is not limited by that which is illustrated in the drawing and described in the specification, but only as indicated in the accompanying claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A book comprising a stack of sheets having a multiplicity of registering apertures along one border, a binding member having curved flexible fingers for cooperative engagement with the apertures in said sheets, said fingers being of larger diameter than the thickness of said stack and thereby having spaced portions extending outwardly of the stack, covering means for said sheets and binding member, said covering means comprising front and back cover members having a combined thickness approximately equal to the difference between the outer diameter of the rings and the thickness of the stack, said cover members positioned with their back edges lying forwardly of the spaced portions of said fingers and the thickness of which extends outwardly of the stack, thin sheet means connecting the back edges of said cover members and extending around the exposed portions of said fingers when said book is closed, adhesive means on said sheet means firmly adhered to said binding member and to said covers whereby when the book is closed the front and back covers will be substantially parallel and in substantially the same plane as the spaced portions of the binding member so that a plurality of books may be stacked without tilting.

2. The article of claim 1 in which the binding member is a copolymer of polystyrene and polyvinyl and the sheet means is attached thereto by a rubber resin adhesive.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,163,766 Morden Dec. 14, 1915 2,407,656 Emmer Sept. 17, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS 450,183 Italy July 8, 1949 

